I’m a total control freak! Bossy Diana Quick on why she's vowed keep her opinions to herself from now on

Actress Diana Quick, 62, first came to our attention as the beautiful Julia Flyte in the 1981 TV series, Brideshead Revisited. Her 27-year relationship with the actor Bill Nighy ended last year. They have a daughter, Mary, 25. Diana divides her time between homes in Suffolk and London.

I also have vitamin pills and bits of dried
fruit, plus a few nuts picked from one of my five walnut trees at home
in Suffolk. I also have a gadget for zapping insect bites, a Swiss Army
knife and a script for my next project, Margaret Atwood's The Year Of
The Flood.

What would your friends say is your greatest quality?

Loyalty, perhaps. And I do tend to be a glass half full, rather than a glass half empty kind of person.

What would your enemies say is your greatest failing?

Control freakery!

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and who with?

Although my parents are no longer alive, I'd most like to be in India with them, retracing my family history. Last year I published a book, A Tug On The Thread, in which I explored my father's life in India during the British Raj, before he came to England and became a dentist. I discovered that there is Indian blood in my ancestry on my father's side – a fact that had not been talked about in my family. No wonder I've often been cast in exotic roles – Indian princesses, Russian revolutionaries, Algerians, Gypsies and Greeks.

Best friends: Despite their split, Diana claims Bill Nighy, right, is still her biggest influence

Who or what has been the greatest influence in your life?

It
would probably be Bill [Nighy], who was my partner for 27 years, and
our daughter, Mary. I'd been married before I met him and had other
important relationships, but until Bill I had never thought that I
wanted to have a child. When Mary arrived I felt a mixture of emotions,
including panic and overwhelming love. I felt a great sense of
responsibility, not just towards my child but also towards her father.
There have been many influences on my life, but that thing of finally
becoming a family person was the greatest.

Greatest achievement: Diana's daughter, Emily

Who is your best friend?

Well, that would have to be Bill, again. We don't live together any
more, but we're still great friends. We both feel that you can't spend
so many years with someone and then just walk away without a backward
glance. We know each other far too well for that. Our parting is a
reflection of the fact that life changes you and you have to
accommodate those changes and allow people to be what they are. That is
what being a mature person is all about.

What is your greatest vice?

Chocolate!
I can't get through the day without eating it. I try to eat the dark
stuff though, which is not full of sugar and is supposed to be quite
good for you. I've given up all the other vices. When was the last time
you were ill? Fortunately, I'm blessed with very good health and high
energy levels. I haven't been ill for a long time, although, at my age,
you can't take it for granted. I've learned to be more cautious about
getting enough sleep, exercising and not drinking too much. I go on
long walks and, when I'm in London, I swim in the Ladies Pond on
Hampstead Heath.

Which famous person is your all-time greatest crush?

The young Elvis Presley. Come on, the man was just gorgeous.

When were you happiest?

I think I'm as happy right now as I've ever been. I don't pretend to be happy all the time. I think, to be human, is to be happy and unhappy by turns. But I have a great capacity to enjoy myself, and it seems to grow as I get older.

Did you know?

At Oxford University, Diana was the first female president of the dramatic society, and while an undergraduate appeared in a BBC Wednesday Play

Who was the last person to make you cry?

The
actor Keith Michell, who I'm working with at present on a film called
Love/Loss. It's a story based around two childhood sweethearts who have
always loved each other, then meet again after 60 years apart. We were
filming the scene in a pub where Keith's character emerges from a stag
night and comes over to Virginia McKenna's character. He was saying,
'It's me, Mary! It's Joe!!' and tears were falling down his face.
Seeing him cry set me off, too. It was very emotional.

The criticism was from my friend, Zoë Wanamaker. I love and admire her, but one day she said to me, 'You always know the answer to everything, don't you?' She wasn't being mean, it was just an observation. And she was right. I was, yet again, sticking my oar in and I thought, 'From now on I'm going to try to hush my mouth.'

Beauty: Diana during filming of Brideshead revisited at Castle Howard in Yorkshire

If you could play any role in a film, what would it be?

I'd love to play a femme fatale in a film noir. I'm thinking of one of those roles that Lauren Bacall or Bette Davis might have played. What I wouldn't like is to suddenly find myself being cast, as many senior actresses seem to be, as the abbess in a convent. I'd rather be doing the motley mixture of roles that are currently coming my way, including playing a female butcher in New Tricks or an astro-physicist in the ITV series Lewis.

What is the most outrageous thing you've done for love?

Oooh, for a second I was actually tempted to share that!

Diana Quick is in New Tricks, BBC1, Thursday, 9pm; and next year stars in the film Love/Loss